More than 100 volunteers with Integrative Touch for Kids want to reach out and touch children with special needs - figuratively and literally - and they hope to heal the kids, their families and eventually entire communities in the process.
"Our belief is that when a child has special needs, the family has special needs," said Sandy Bleaman, deputy director of Integrative Touch for Kids, a locally based, national nonprofit founded in 2005 by Shay Beider.
Beider, a licensed massage therapist who once aspired to be a physician, began exploring the impact of touch therapy on patients after witnessing the extreme anxiety of a child before surgery.
"That was the seed. There is so much more to a person than symptoms and sickness. The other side is the spiritual and emotional and psychological, which are not what many healthcare professionals pay attention to but are so critical," Bleaman said.
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Integrative Touch for Kids caters to the whole child and the whole family through an annual healing retreat. There, recipients can choose from an array of services and activities such as acupuncture, laughter yoga, equine therapy, shiatsu, music therapy, cranio-sacral therapy, massage, yoga and sound healing.
Support groups are offered for children and their families, who participate in activities together.
The services model a "whole-systems approach" to address physical, psychological and spiritual needs by combining integrative therapies with Western medicine at the retreat center.
The organization serves children with a range of developmental, emotional and physical disabilities, genetic disorders and chronic and/or life-threatening illnesses. Clients have included children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, diabetes and cancer, as well as a set of conjoined twins.
Bleaman emphasized that the goal is to empower families.
"There is a teachable component to each therapy, and the main emphasis is to provide a piece the families can continue on a daily basis should they find it effective," she said. "They may not be able to go get acupuncture treatments, but maybe they can do acupressure or reflexology on each other. … Our emphasis is to expose them and teach them what they can do for themselves."
The retreats also offer an opportunity to focus on siblings who may feel neglected and parents who are often overwhelmed and isolated, according to volunteer Jamie Lakin Kelley, a licensed child social worker and registered play therapist supervisor who helps children express and process feelings through play.
"We have long recognized that when a child in a family has special needs, the siblings often have needs that are compromised. Understandably, the resources in the family go to the child with special needs - not just the economic resources, but the parent's attention, energy and time," said Lakin Kelley, who is chairing the upcoming Butterfly Gala, the organization's signature fundraiser.
"Very often, the siblings feel like they have to be perfect so they don't tax the family system, or they act out because they are angry for not having their needs met, or they feel guilty because their sibling is suffering. In touch therapy, we understand this need."
The concept of treating the child and family together is logical to volunteer Kelly Greene, a local business owner and mother of four who is helping with the gala, which is Feb. 5 at the Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive.
"How do you treat the child so they don't feel like just an illness and how do we treat the family and keep them together? And why haven't we been doing this all along? When you stop and think about it ... it just makes sense," Greene said.
Ultimately, the volunteers believe their efforts are building a network of holistic support that will strengthen the entire community.
"One mom said early on what a disservice it would be for her child to survive cancer and for her marriage to break up and her other children to develop emotional problems or start using drugs as a result of the stress," Bleaman said. "By listening to parents be vocal about their needs, we realize it is the whole family that needs support."
If you go
• What: Integrative Touch for Kids' Butterfly Gala 2011
• When: 6 p.m. Feb. 5
• Where: The Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive
• Cost: $85 per person or $150 per couple. A $200 "Take Flight" package includes two gala tickets, four drink tickets and two Diamond Dives for a chance to win a half-carat diamond donated by S. Silverberg and Sons.
• Etc.: Festivities include a cocktail hour and silent auction with entertainment by flamenco guitarists Brian Scott, Justin Fernandez and Andrew McClaron of Tesoro. Dinner and dessert, served in a "retro lounge," will feature bountiful bites courtesy of Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, Contigo, Jasper Food & Mixology,, Beyond Bread, Kingfisher, Mini's Cupcakes, Sandy's Custom Cakes and Pastiche.
• Featured entertainment is by ScottyP DJ Company; guests can participate in the Diamond Dive for $20 per ticket; and there will be a live auction featuring prizes such as a five-day Sedona vacation package, including rental of a Porsche donated by Chapman Porsche. Other raffle prizes include a stay at Lumiere in Telluride, a Valentine's Day Suite Package from the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa and a vacation at a 6,000-square-foot mansion in Rocky Point.
• Info: For tickets or more information about Integrative Touch for Kids, go to www.integrative touch.org or call 303-4992.
Contact freelance writer Loni Nannini at ninch2@comcast.net.
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